Symptoms of stumbling and balance problems led to people accusing the 29-year-old lawyer of being drunk.
LAWYER Sarah-Lyn Mumberson is suffering from a rare genetic condition that makes her feet shrink.
She has gone from a size 3 shoe to a 1.5 due to Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). Sarah-Lyn, 29, is raising awareness of the incurable, progressive, inherited group of disorders that damage nerves outside the brain and spine. She only found out she had CMT — one of around 23,000 Brits — in 2011 despite symptoms from childhood such as stumbling and balance problems.
In her early 20s, bouncers at clubs often refused to let her in thinking she was drunk.
She said: “That’s all in the past now, as I rarely go out, but it was embarrassing at the time.
“On a night out with friends, we’d try and get into pubs or clubs, but the bouncers stopped me at the door assuming I was really drunk.”
She said diagnosis was a relief, adding: “It enabled me to find out more about CMT and how to treat it.”
Sarah-Lyn, of Carlisle, said: “Despite the challenges CMT has thrown at me, I have a wonderful life and I got married last September.
“We decided early on not to have children because I could pass CMT on to them, although I appreciate other people take that risk and have children with CMT who lead happy and fulfilling lives.
“For me, the deciding factor was that because of the severity of my own symptoms I wouldn’t be able to give a child the help my parents were able to give me.”
She is backing CMT Awareness Month this month and CMT UK.
The charity’s Karen Butcher said: “We’re here to help”.
This article was published in Sept 2016 in:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/1751710/lawyer-raises-awareness-for-charcot-marie-tooth-disease-thats-seen-her-shoe-size-drop-from-3-to-1-5
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/lawyer-suffers-rare-disease-caused-8797041
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/lawyer-bids-to-raise-awareness-of-condition-that-has-made-her-feet-shrink-1-8115441
https://www.sundaypost.com/news/lawyer-bids-raise-awareness-condition-made-feet-shrink